Written Answers

Friday 18 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Education

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people left special schools last year at the ages of 16,17 and 18.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Information on the number of young people who left special schools in 1998-99 for the age groups requested is given below.

  


Age 16
  

493
  



Age 17
  

168
  



Age 18
  

216

Education

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people leaving special schools last year (a) returned to live with their parents, (b) moved into supported accommodation, (c) moved into adult residential care, (d) went on to live independently and (e) moved into any other housing and/or care arrangement.

Mr Sam Galbraith: This information is not held centrally.

Education

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people left special schools last year and how many of these went on to (a) further education, (b) higher education, (c) training, (d) part-time employment and (e) full-time employment.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The number of young people who left special schools in the year 1998-99 was 1,091 of which 777 were leavers from local authority special schools.

  Information on the destination of special school leavers is only available for leavers from local authority schools who have been dealt with by Careers Services. In 1998-99, for those school leavers with known main destinations, 290 entered further education, 88 entered training, 51 entered employment and four entered higher education. Employment is defined as paid employment of at least 21 hours per week.

Environment

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what environmental costs result from the quarries located within Galloway and Upper Nithsdale.

Sarah Boyack: Potential adverse environmental effects stemming from quarry development may include noise, vibration, dust, increases in heavy lorry transportation, visual intrusion, loss of amenity, and damage to biodiversity and landscapes.

General Practitioners

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners are forecast to retire in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is not held by the Executive.

  The General Practitioner sub-committee of the Scottish Advisory Committee on the Medical Workforce are working with ISD Scotland to develop a statistical model to project the supply and demand of GPs in Scotland. This will include GP retirals, but this is a highly variable factor and the forecast will, of necessity, have a high degree of uncertainty.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to commission any medical research on the safety of mobile phones and their use by children.

Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-8604 on 21 July 2000.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to issue any health warnings on the use of mobile phones.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is in discussions with other government departments and industry on how best to take forward the main recommendations of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones.

  The Executive is consulting with other government departments on the production of a joint leaflet which will provide information for the consumer to make choices about their use of new mobile phone technologies. It will be available later in the year.

Justice

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reform the laws relating to sexual offences in line with the Home Office review, Setting the Boundaries of Law in England and Wales , and what the proposed timetable for any such reforms would be.

Mr Jim Wallace: There are no plans for a full-scale review of the law on sex offences in Scotland. Work is already being carried out on certain aspects of the law through Towards a Just Conclusion and by the Millan Committee’s review of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 and the MacLean Committee’s review of the treatment of serious sexual or violent offenders.

  We will also look closely at the outcomes of the Home Office work to consider what implications there may be for law in Scotland.

Ministerial Correspondence

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the letters sent to the First Minister over the past year by Ms Dorothy Sutherland.

Donald Dewar: A written reply was sent to Ms Sutherland on 15 August.

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many nursery nurses are employed by each local authority.

Peter Peacock: The department does not collect data on the number of early education and childcare workers (often termed "nursery nurses") employed across the full range of local authority services. At September 1999, there were 4,103 full-time equivalent qualified early education and childcare workers employed in local authority pre-school education centres and partner pre-school education centres in the private and voluntary sectors.

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the child:nursery nurse ratio is in each local authority.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive does not currently collect comprehensive data on local authority staff by occupational group and qualification. It is not therefore possible to derive a child:nursery nurse ratio for all early education and childcare services. It is, however, estimated that at September 1999 the average child:staff ratio in local authority pre-school education centres and partner pre-school education centres in the private and voluntary sectors was 6.2:1.

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to enshrine minimum standards of nursery nurse provision in the revised Schools (Scotland) Code in the light of the policy position paper The Way Forward for Care .

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive set out its proposals for the regulation of early education and childcare in Regulation of Early Education and Childcare: The Way Ahead published in May. Providers will have to meet National Care Standards focusing on the quality of care but some input requirements, for example on staffing, will remain. The paper set out the intention to move to a fully qualified workforce but to retain in the short term the requirement that at least half of staff should hold an appropriate qualification. A range of qualifications is relevant including those leading to use of the term "nursery nurse". For pre-school education, we intend to repeal the relevant regulations of the Schools (Scotland) Code and introduce a system of guidance covering teacher involvement from the beginning of academic year 2001-02.

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to develop a national career structure for nursery nurses.

Peter Peacock: Working with Children: A Guide to Qualifications, and Careers in Early Education, Childcare and Playwork published by the Scottish Executive Education Department in January 2000, describes different occupations, including that of nursery nurse, within the sector. It also presents a framework of qualifications available to nursery nurses and other workers. A copy of the document is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 6621).

  Other relevant information is given in Childcare: The Training Challenge, An Action Plan for the Training and Development of Workers in Early Education, Childcare and Playwork published by the Scottish Executive Education Department in July 2000. This sets out how the Executive intends to work with other bodies to help expand the workforce, widen training opportunities and enhance the quality of training. The plan makes clear that it is for employers to provide suitable occupational outlets for those holding advanced qualifications. To support the Action Plan, £3.9 million will be available to local authorities and other bodies over this and next financial year. A copy of the document is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 7138).

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional training and responsibilities will be required for nursery nurses in deregulated nursery classes and schools in the light of the policy position paper The Way Forward for Care .

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive intends that the proposed Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care will regulate all providers of early education and childcare and that Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools will continue to inspect on a periodic basis.

  Currently, those holding an SVQ 3 in Early Years Care and Education or an HNC in Childcare and Education are generally considered as nursery nurses. This is not expected to change. It is for individual employers to deploy staff appropriately to achieve quality standards and to meet staffing requirements. Employers are also best placed to judge additional training requirements for members of staff, including nursery nurses. This will not change when the proposals set out in The Way Forward for Care: A Policy Position Paper and Regulation of Early Education and Childcare: The Way Ahead are implemented. The ending of the statutory specification of teacher:pupil ratios in local authority nursery schools and classes will not of itself entail changes to the job role or training of nursery nurses.

Nursery Education

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent research has been completed, is ongoing or is proposed into the role and responsibilities of nursery nurses in pre-school education.

Peter Peacock: Meeting Children’s Education Needs: The Role of Staff and Staff Development by Christine Stephen, Sally Brown, Peter Cope and Steve Watherhouse of Stirling University was commissioned by the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department in 1997. It examines the roles of staff (including nursery nurses) working in pre-school provision in the voluntary, private and local authority sectors. A summary of the research can be found in Pre-school Educational Research: Linking Policy with Practice , published by the Scottish Executive Education Department in 1999, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 4023).

  In addition, the Scottish Executive has recently commissioned a wide-ranging workforce survey which will provide detailed information on those working in early education and childcare, including their qualifications.

Water Services

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total public sector expenditure on activities related to the delivery of water and sewerage services (a) was in each year for which figures are available and (b) will be in each year for which estimates are available, specified in cash and real terms in each case.

Sarah Boyack: The total public expenditure figures relating to the delivery of water and sewerage services are as follows:

  In cash terms:

  


£ million
  

1996-97
outturn
  

1997-98
outturn
  

1998-99
outturn
  

1999-2000
provision
  

2000-01
provision
  

2001-02
provision
  



Water External Finance Limit
  

214.445*
  

168.706
  

178.136
  

221.904**
  

210.954
  

223.418
  



  *includes £50 million working capital to enable the three newly formed water authorities to operate in their first few months of their existence.

  **includes £15 million which was brought forward from 2000-01.

  In real terms:

  


£ million
  

1996-97
outturn
  

1997-98
outturn
  

1998-99
outturn
  

1999-2000
provision
  

2000-01
provision
  

2001-02
provision
  



Water EFL
  

232.774*
  

178.074
  

182.687
  

221.904**
  

206.312
  

213.173
  



  Figures for 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 exclude Domestic Sewerage Transitional Relief which was paid to domestic customers.